Dahlan tried to convince thesenior militants to do all theycould to prevent terror attacksagainst Israel, thus preservinghis achievements in hismeetings with Mofaz, namely thetransfer of security control offour West Bank cities,including Ramallah, to PAsecurity control.

Everyone made promises to Dahlan, yet the deadlysuicide bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday nightis proof that they did not keep their word.Tuesday's attack, the first such incident sincethe declaration of the hudna (cease-fire) atthe end of June, marks a personal failure forPA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) andfor Dahlan himself.

At the end of last week, defense and politicalsources had expressed a slim, momentary hopethat appeasing the PA would yield results. Butthe attack proves once more that the cease-fireis fake. It now looks as if the voices may ofthose who warn that a terror-state may beestablished alongside Israel grow strong, andthat this outcome must be prevented despite itsinclusion in the road map.

Generally speaking, it is not important which ofthe terror groups was responsible for theattack. Whether it was Islamic Jihad -according to an anonymous spokesman speakingon Hezbollah's radio station, Fatah's Tanzimgangs, or Hamas.

The territories are teeming with activity, anddespite the hudna, large amounts of cash arebeing transferred to bribe people into carryingout terror attacks.

Iran is using Hezbollah in Lebanon to transferfunds that reach Islamic Jihad and Fatahmilitants; funding also finds its way to thoseorganizations from those close to PA chairmanYasser Arafat, who in effect controls (directlyor indirectly) Tanzim's operational apparatus.

Arafat controls the funds that arrive uncheckedfrom Europe. Dahlan's preventive securityorganization also uses the funds, for thepurpose of preventing terror attacks. ThePalestinian security minister is gettingfinancial support himself, likely from theAmerican administration, which he uses to buyoff Fatah bands and their leaders and pay fortheir guns, thereby taking them out of thecircle of terror.

This deterioration in Palestinian society -which maintains only an extremely thin layer atits top that is called the "PalestinianAuthority" - strengthens those who think thatit is impossible to control what happens in theterritories. A similar deterioration occurredwhen the Palestinians started the civil war inLebanon, and the same happened when they causedlarge-scale clashes in Jordan.